Huck Finn 3: 47-66 and Huck Finn 4: 67-88

1) “I reckon the widow or the parson or somebody prayed that this bread would find me, and here it had gone and done it. So there ain't no doubt but there is something in that thing. That is, there's something in it when a body like the widow or the parson prays, but it don't work for me, and I reckon it don't work for only just the right kind” (48).

            This is what is going through Huck’s mind after he finds the bread that was floating on the river. He again thinks about prayer and finds that it only seems to work for the right kind of people. This is a bad thought for him to have because it may cause him to think badly of himself. Later in the book, Huck may feel the need to turn to prayer, and may see it as only for good people. Huck should realize that anyone can pray no matter how they see themselves.

2) “I made up my mind I wouldn’t ever aholt of a snake-skin again with my hands, now that I see what had come of it. Jim said he reckoned I would believe him next time. And he said that handling a snake-skin was such awful bad luck that maybe we hadn’t got to the end of it yet” (63).

            Huck’s belief in bad luck is seen on many occasions throughout the novel so far. After meeting Jim on the island, he asks Jim even more about signs of bad luck. When Huck touches a snake-skin with his bare hands, Jim is very concerned because he thinks it will cause them terrible bad luck. One night, Huck kills a snake and puts it near where Jim sleeps, and another snake hides there too. Jim is bitten by the snake, and they blame it upon bad luck. They think that they will receive even more bad luck because touching a snake-skin is so bad. This is very foolish because what ever bad events come about, and they are certain to arise, will be blamed on their bad luck from the snake-skin. Huck believes very much in superstition, and this may be his replacement for religion.

Definitions:

1) “I warn't feeling very brash, there warn't much sand in my craw; but I says, this ain’t no time to be fooling around” (50).

brash: adjective-impertinent; impudent; tactless

2) “I catched a cat-fish and haggled him open with my saw, and towards sundown I started my camp fire and had supper” (49).

haggle: verb- to mangle in cutting